Never fails, the truth always catches up to people; especially in Castle Rock. Annie’s (Lizzy Caplan) story is tragic, but explains a lot about why she’s running and who she’s running from. I bet she didn’t expect that Joy (Elsie Fisher) would ever found out the truth. Poor Joy. Annie is all she’s ever known.
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THE RAVENING ANGEL
Annie left Rita (Sarah Gadon) for dead that night she killed her father…by accident, and took Evangeline. Rita woke up and everyone was gone. Apparently is was a big story in California. Rita turned to drinking to deal with the pain and eventually moved to New York to escape it. She is now sober and living a quiet life. She looks for Evangeline in every little girl she sees and it pains her to see mother-daughter duos spending time together. So when Rita got the call from Joy, she knew in her heart, it was her daughter. The mention of ‘The Ravening Angel’ solidified it. Rita asked who is calling and Joy hung up. Rita looked up the number and traced it to Castle Rock, Maine.
Annie went to the bar and started drinking after Joy sent her away. Ace (Paul Sparks) showed up and sat next to Annie. When she realizes he’s there, all she can do is laugh. She’s really drunk at this point. She says she won’t apologize for killing him. He laughs saying a lot of people dreamt of killing him and asks how she did it. Annie laughs and explains how it happened. Then she says it didn’t make sense because she doesn’t remember waking up. Ace walks her home, lays her on her couch and covers her up.
Nadia (Yusra Warsam) takes Joy to a shelter for displaced teens. Joy isn’t sure she wants to be there, but Nadia says it’s the safest place for her. She’s turning Joy’s case over to the state so they can determine where Joy needs to be. Nadia promises to return to check on Joy regularly.
THE TRUTH ALWAYS COMES OUT
Nadia heads home and has a message from Pop (Tim Robbins) on her phone. She’s been avoiding his calls. He apologizes for hiding the truth from her. He took in Nadia and Abdi (Barkhad Abdi) to make things right, but he still feels guilty. Pop tells her not to be angry with Abdi for not telling her. It was his decision and he told Abdi not to say anything. That was five years ago.
Abdi finds Nadia throwing his things out of her house. She asks what happened between him and Pop. One day Abdi adores Pop, the next day he hates him. She never knew why. She’s upset that he never told her. Abdi says Ace is the one who told him. He found out that Pop was giving the mall to Abdi so he wanted to hurt them both. Nadia doesn’t care. She tells Abdi to leave.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF ACE
Ace told Chris (Matthew Alan) he was creating a fellowship before he killed him. From what we can see, Ace’s victims are all resurrected in some kind of goo. A couple are the latest Castle Rock victims. The man tries to propose to his girlfriend, but she would prefer that he pay for her antidepressants instead. When they enter their home, they are attacked. Ace’s followers put each of the couple in individual coffins, full of goo, while Ace watches.
Ace goes to a coffin set aside, labeled Amity Lambert, 1619. He speaks to the coffin in French. He calls Amity his love and his prophet. Ace says she will rise soon. He found a vessel worthy of her spirit and her name is Annie.
Ace finds Chris admiring his face. Ace is now Augustin and Chris is Bertrand. They talk about Amity. Her resurrection is in four days. They have much to do before that happens. Ace/Augustin says it’s all happening as Amity said it would.
When the newbie followers are ready, the pastor and Valerie (Alison Wright) are the first to greet them. The pastor says they embarking on a new journey. They get the man out first. When they go to retrieve the woman, she’s gone.
FAMILIAR FACE
When Annie wakes up, she gets a visit from Child and Family Services. They sent out a case worker to look at where Annie is living and talk about Joy. He tells her that Joy is staying at one of their facilities. Annie doesn’t open the door and tells the case worker that she’s sick. She tells him to come back the next day. He leaves, but informs her that she will need to provide Joy’s original birth certificate and social security number.
At the same time, Rita arrives in Castle Rock. She tracked the phone to Chance (Abby Corrigan) at the Star Gazer Lodge. She asks Chance about Annie and Joy, but Chance thinks she’s a cop and won’t talk to her. Rita offers her $500 for information, but Chance leaves and goes into her cabin. Vera (Tenea Intrigago) is inside the cabin, listening at the window.
Annie is leaving her cabin when she spots Rita. She runs to the back of the cabin to go back in. She packs her things and finds that her lock box is gone. The one Chance stole and gave to Joy.
Annie looks up the state’s facilities to find Joy. Rita is on the phone with the FBI. She says she hasn’t made contact with Annie or Evangeline. The person on the other line questions her sobriety, making Rita angry. Rita yells at them, telling them to reopen the case and they hang up on her. Someone knocks on the door, so Rita grabs her gun. When she opens the door, Vera is standing there, asking for $500.
CASE OF THE MISSING WOMAN
Nadia is avoiding both Pop and Abdi, and they are both calling her to apologize. Abdi says he didn’t tell her the truth because he didn’t want her to drop out of school. That’s about the time a mysterious woman bangs on her window, screaming for help. The woman’s name is Heather (Georgia Lyman). Nadia knows her from her many suicide attempts. Heather is covered in goo, but Nadia doesn’t know what to make of it.
After they ran some tests, Nadia sees that Heather has two blood types. She instructs the nurse to run it again. She goes to check in on Heather and she’s gone. The Pastor took her out of the hospital and back to the mansion. Ace/Augustin asks what happened. The Pastor says her antidepressants slowed down the process.
Later that day, Nadia visits Chris/Bertrand to vent about Pop and Abdi…and Ace. She’s tired of their drama and wants to leave Castle Rock. Chris is the only person keeping her there. Chris/Bertrand tells her to relax and drink some wine.
THE MOTHER
Annie tracks down Joy at the Maine State Group Home. She asks to see Joy, but Joy is already talking to her mother. Rita got their first. She tells Joy the truth about who she is, where she comes from and how Annie got to raise her. Joy is in upset and confused. She asks Rita what will happen. Rita wants Joy/Evangeline back. She will do whatever she can to get her back too. Until then, she will visit her everyday at the shelter.
Rita says she never stopped looking for Joy/Evangeline. She asks if Joy remembers her, but she doesn’t. Joy asks if Annie is going to prison. Rita calls Annie her sister and Joy asks her not to call her that. Rita says she’s not there for Annie. All she wants is Joy, but what does Joy want. Joy says she has to go and asks Rita to come back the next day. Annie is outside, watching from the window.
Rita and Joy are extremely upset by everything. Rita turns to drinking to cope while Joy cries herself to sleep. Annie is upset as well but write a letter to Joy. The next day, Rita goes back to the group home, but Joy is gone. Chance broke her out and took her to the woods to meet Annie.
ANNIE’S TRUTH
Annie gives Joy a letter and says its the truth about everything. She says Rita was right about killing her father. She tried to kill Rita too and she wasn’t going to stop there. Annie says her father wasn’t a good man. Joy knows Annie thinks everyone is bad and she probably thinks she was saving Joy from Rita. Annie says Joy saved her when she laughed.
Annie tries to give her a heartfelt explanation about why she is the way she is. She says she’s not normal, but Joy keeps her on the right side of things. Joy wants to clarify what Annie meant when she said she wasn’t going to stop with their dad and Rita. Annie is silent, giving Joy everything she needs to figure out that Annie was going to kill them both. She tells Annie to leave. Annie pleads with Joy to come back to her, saying she loves her. Joy tells her to leave and go far away where no one can find her.
Chance tries to cheer up Joy afterward, but Joy is numb. She doesn’t know what to do, but she knows that she can’t stay in Castle Rock. Chance suggests they leave together. She has a sister in North Carolina. No one would ever find them there.
RITA’S REVENGE
Annie returns to her cabin to find Rita waiting for her. Rita plays a voicemail from Joy. Joy thanks Rita for tracking her down and telling her the truth, but she can’t go with Rita. Annie knew Rita was alive. Rita says the hardest part was wondering if Annie was a good mother. If she wasn’t, that meant that Evangeline was dead. Rita points a gun at Annie and asks if it was the dedication in the book that pushed her over the edge.
Meanwhile, Joy reads Annie’s letter. Annie reminds her about how they fit well together and how she will be grateful for her life with Joy. She says Joy is her life and says she will always be her number one fan. Joy decides to return home to Annie, but Annie is gone when she gets there.
Rita led Annie out to the woods. Annie and Rita start remembering when they were friends. Joy walks out of the cabin and goes into the woods. Rita starts crying as she gets ready to shoot. Annie sees an opportunity and throws dirt into Rita’s face. Annie runs away and Rita starts shooting into the air.
Rita clears her eyes and runs after Annie. Annie jumps out and attacks Rita. She reaches for the gun, but Rita is able to fight her off. Rita points the gun at Annie when Joy arrives. Joy injects Rita with a sedative.
Rita drops the gun and it goes off, shooting Rita in the stomach. Annie jumps into action to stop the bleeding. The police show up, making Joy really nervous because she thinks she killed Rita. Annie holds up her hands and walks toward the police saying she shot Rita.
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THOUGHTS
I like Annie’s story but it appears that we may have reached the end of Joy’s part. I’m way more interested in Ace’s story and how Annie fits. He says Annie is a worthy vessel for someone names Amity. Who is Amity? Who is Augustin and Bertand? I recall Pop talking about people who settled Jerusalem’s Lot and Castle Rock. Most people called them witches, but Pop called them satanists. That is a way more interesting story.
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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